Chapter 1057: The Two Legendary Beasts and the Mirage Tower's Master

After confirming that Chimecho was indeed unharmed, Yuga began dealing with the Solrock and Lunatone on the ground. He decided to take all of them with him. Even Solrock and Lunatone of lower potential had buyers due to their rarity, and after using the Evolution Potion on them, their potential would certainly increase.

The high-quality Pokémon among the Solrock and Lunatone were far more numerous than the Baltoy on the second level. In addition to the Elite-level Solrock and Lunatone, which were of Blue quality, there were over ten Green-quality ones.

The total number of Solrock and Lunatone was around two hundred, with more than ten high-quality Pokémon, which Yuga found astonishing. In the wild, high-quality Pokémon are rarely so prevalent unless they have been carefully bred and selected by humans.

Like with the Baltoy and Vibrava on the second level, Yuga gave Ash and Brock a Green-quality Solrock each, and May and Lovia a Green-quality Lunatone each. Among them, Lovia's Lunatone was even a near-Elite-level Pokémon, and this time, Lovia accepted it without objection due to its attributes.

Seeing Yuga put all the Solrock and Lunatone into Poké Balls and then into his space backpack, Lovia asked in surprise, "Do you usually carry so many Poké Balls when you go out?"

"Yes!" Yuga replied with a slight smile, "It's better to be prepared." In fact, these were all bought temporarily from the system store, where the purchase of standard Poké Balls was not restricted.

Ash and Brock were also very surprised. Ash directly asked, "Mr. Shimizu, why are you capturing so many Pokémon?"

Brock immediately took the opportunity to explain, "You may not know this, but Yuga is not only a Gym Leader but also the owner of a breeding house. Of course, he's capturing these Pokémon to take them back for breeding!"

"Does Mr. Shimizu's home have all kinds of Pokémon?" Ash exclaimed, enviously. "That's amazing; I'd love to see different Pokémon."

Yuga smiled and said, "When you have the chance to visit Verdanturf, I'll take you to tour our breeding house's ecological garden."

Yuga was referring to the new garden, where most of the Pokémon found in the system's ecological garden could also be seen. Showing Ash around wouldn't be too problematic.

Ash happily responded, "That sounds great! I'm looking forward to visiting Verdanturf more and more!"

Yuga quickly packed up all the Solrock and Lunatone, and the group continued to head to the next level of the Mirage Tower.

They didn't know the exact number of floors in the Mirage Tower, but on the third floor, they found the entrance to the next level, indicating that there was a fourth floor.

Given their experiences on the first three floors, the group was very cautious when they reached the fourth floor. However, the situation on this floor was different from what they had imagined.

After ascending a long staircase, they arrived at a massive white stone door adorned with various carvings.

The stone door was very heavy. Yuga and Brock tried to push it open with their strength but found it difficult. Finally, with the combined efforts of Yuga's Charizard, Dragonite, and Breloom, they managed to push the door open slightly.

Rumble!!!

As the white stone door slowly opened, a Pokémon on the other side slowly opened its eyes upon hearing the noise.

Seeing the gap in the stone door, Yuga and the others recalled their larger Pokémon into their Poké Balls and managed to pass through the door.

On the other side of the door was a palace. As soon as Yuga and the others entered, they saw a Pokémon floating in the air, quietly observing them.

"Humans!" A gentle voice echoed in everyone's minds.

"It's telepathy!" Brock exclaimed.

The floating Pokémon didn't mind Brock's rudeness and continued, "I didn't expect humans to reach me here. Hello."

"What kind of Pokémon is this? I've never seen it before," Ash whispered to Brock.

Brock shook his head, "I haven't seen it either."

"Hello, Cresselia. We didn't expect to meet you here," Yuga greeted the floating Pokémon politely, showing respect. From Cresselia's current demeanor, it seemed to have no malice towards them.

"So, some of you know me," Cresselia's gentle voice resonated in their minds again.

"Cresselia? I've never heard of this Pokémon," Ash said, confused, with May nodding in agreement.

Brock, frustrated by their ignorance, explained, "Ash and May, seriously, you should learn more. Cresselia is a legendary Pokémon."

Yuga, curious, also wondered. He had some knowledge of legendary Pokémon from various regions. Cresselia and its rival Darkrai were part of Sinnoh's legends, but there were no records of them in Hoenn's history.

In fact, apart from a few legendary Pokémon like the Legendary Birds, Beasts, Manaphy, Shaymin, Celebi, and Mew, most legendary Pokémon are confined to specific continents and rarely leave.

Although Yuga was puzzled, he didn't want to ask directly.

At this moment, Cresselia noticed the Baltoy beside Yuga and suddenly realized, "So it was this little guy guiding you."

It turned out that the Mirage Tower not only had numerous obstructive Pokémon but also various traps and mechanisms, especially on the first and second floors where the guardian Pokémon were relatively weak.

If Yuga and his group had not been fortunate enough to have a native Baltoy as a guide, they would likely have fallen into traps by now. It was the first time in many years that someone had avoided traps and mechanisms to reach Cresselia.

If they had fallen into traps, regardless of whether they survived, they would not have met Cresselia, like Jessie and James who were suffering at that moment.

However, Cresselia did not explain this to Yuga and his group, and they did not know. Although they were puzzled by Cresselia's words, they saw that Cresselia had no intention of further explanation and chose not to ask more.

"What is your purpose for coming here?" Cresselia asked the group.

Yuga answered honestly, "We came here for adventure and treasure."

Cresselia was not surprised by this response, as most humans came here for that reason, though no one had reached her in many years.

"Is that so? Then follow me."

To the group's surprise, Cresselia led them to an annex.

"All the treasures you seek are here."

Entering the annex, Yuga and the others saw countless piles of dazzling gold and jewels.

"Wow, wow! So much gold!" Brock, still young, couldn't help but exclaim. He wasn't particularly fond of these things; it was simply because he had never seen so much before.

Ash and May were more composed. May, showing her usual knack for being blunt, asked, "What's the point of being excited? Do you have any way to take all this with us?"

Brock immediately sobered up: "Right, we can't take it all."

Even though everyone had space backpacks, the space was limited. They also needed to carry travel essentials and equipment, so they couldn't fit much more.

Yuga's system space could store more, but since he wasn't the only one, he couldn't just take everything.

Cresselia then suggested, "You can choose what you like and take it with you."

Yuga looked up and asked, "Really?"

Cresselia, indifferent, replied, "Of course. After all, these aren't my possessions. They were the burial goods of the original owner of the Mirage Tower."

"The original owner?" Yuga asked in surprise.

"Yes," Cresselia explained. "The Mirage Tower was actually a tomb."

Cresselia then began explaining the history of the Mirage Tower and why it appeared there. Perhaps it had been a long time since it had talked to anyone, as Cresselia spoke at length.

The original owner of the Mirage Tower was a powerful Beast Master from ancient times on the Hoenn continent. This Beast Master lived in an era filled with war due to the invasion of enemy countries, with turmoil and suffering for the people.

To end the war, the Beast Master joined the military. Under his exceptional leadership, the invading enemy was eventually driven out, and peace was restored to the country.

However, after the turmoil ended, the Beast Master disappeared from public view, choosing to live in obscurity. After his death, he used the wealth he accumulated from the war to build the Mirage Tower as a tomb.

The Pokémon they had encountered as obstacles were descendants of the tomb guardians the Beast Master had selected. Each guardian Pokémon was chosen for its exceptional strength and potential.

This explained why Yuga found so many high-quality Pokémon among the Solrock and Lunatone—because their ancestors were high-quality guardian Pokémon.

As time passed, the descendants of the guardian Pokémon became less exceptional, with many low-quality Pokémon, especially among the Sandshrew and Sandslash on the first floor, where no high-quality Pokémon were left.

As for why Cresselia was here, that was another story.

Cresselia couldn't remember how long it had been in the Mirage Tower, but it had been several hundred years.

Hundreds of years ago, Cresselia and its rival, Darkrai, lived in a nameless town in Sinnoh. One day, during a quarrel, they accidentally destroyed the village and caused the deaths of many innocent villagers. A passing traveler stopped them and decided to take them away as punishment.

Feeling guilty about the deaths, the kind-hearted Cresselia agreed to leave with the traveler, but the rebellious Darkrai refused.

Ultimately, Darkrai was forcibly taken away, as it was no match for the traveler.

So, in the following days, Cresselia and Darkrai accompanied the traveler on a journey, eventually leaving the Sinnoh continent for Hoenn.

After traveling in Hoenn for a while, they found the Mirage Tower. The traveler thought the Mirage Tower was a safe place and, weary of the long journey and endless solitude, decided to sleep here, asking Cresselia and Darkrai to guard him. For legendary Pokémon, even a little time was inconsequential, so they agreed.

Although Darkrai was rebellious, as a legendary Pokémon, it kept its word and remained in the Mirage Tower.

Even after spending a long time with Cresselia, Darkrai still didn't like it, so the two legendary Pokémon guarded separate parts of the Mirage Tower, agreeing to avoid each other unless necessary.

There were two main tombs in the Mirage Tower: one where Cresselia resided and another where Darkrai stayed. Darkrai's palace was the true resting place of the Beast Master, while Cresselia's palace was built to confuse tomb robbers. Compared to Cresselia's, Darkrai's palace was more hidden.

The traveler now slept in Cresselia's palace, as he was an outsider and could not occupy the tomb of the original owner. He also didn't want to lie among bones.

Upon hearing Cresselia's story, the group was astonished. Not only was Cresselia here, but also Darkrai! Furthermore, according to Cresselia, the traveler who brought them to Hoenn had been asleep for hundreds of years and had not died.

Living for hundreds of years without dying—was that even possible for a human? Was Cresselia mistaken? Could it be that another deity was actually sleeping there, not a human?

"If you want to leave here, you need to seek Darkrai's help because the exit of the Mirage Tower is with it," Cresselia added. "Darkrai's temper is quite different from mine, so it won't be easy to get its help."

"Can't we just go back the way we came?" Brock, not fully understanding the reverence for legendary Pokémon, spoke more casually.

Cresselia, with her gentle nature, didn't mind and responded, "No, the entrance to the Mirage Tower only allows entry, not exit. That's one of its unique features."

"What should we do then?" May asked anxiously.

Cresselia said, "I can't help you because of the agreement with Darkrai. I can only tell you where it is."

Seeing the worried expressions on their faces, Cresselia comforted them, "You don't need to worry too much. Although Darkrai and I are not on good terms, it is actually kind-hearted. If you speak to it properly, it might be willing to let you go."

Despite the rivalry with Darkrai, Cresselia had to admit that Darkrai was not inherently evil. It had helped villagers secretly and assisted other travelers during their journey with Cresselia.

However, its reputation was poor, and it left a bad impression on the world.

(End of Chapter)